Read Online Always on My Mind by Jill Shalvis - Free Book Online Page B

cleats. Since Luke was still cackling like a hen, he tugged his hat down lower over his eyes and stalked off toward the field.
    He was first baseman, and since no one else could be bothered, he was also team captain.
    And their best player. Usually.
    But not today.
    As he discovered the hard way, a bad mood apparently made his game shit. First he missed an easy fly ball and then a line drive. And then, to make his humiliation complete, he struck out.
    Lucky Harbor enjoyed its baseball as much as he did, and the stands were full. He could see Danica on the top row. They’d talked about having drinks at her place sometime this week. He wondered if it was possible they were still on.
    She waved at him.
    He started to wave back, but then he saw his mom two rows below Danica. Sitting with…
    Leah and her grandma.
    His mom was beaming.
    Jack couldn’t be sure from this distance, but he thought maybe Leah was squirming. She had good reason to squirm, since he was going to kill her later.
    To make sure she knew, he pointed at her.
    She slunk down a little and pretended not to see him.
    From the dugout, Kevin whined. He loved Jack’s mom, and he loved Leah. Basically Kevin loved the ladies, period. But not a single woman had ever enjoyed Kevin’s way of greeting, which was a nose to the crotch.
    Which is why he was tied up in the dugout.
    At the top of the third inning, Luke, their catcher, called a time-out and jogged out to Jack. Ben strolled over from the pitcher’s mound.
    “What?” Jack said.
    “You tell us what,” Ben said.
    “I suck today. So what? You two were both pussies last week. Maybe it’s just my turn.”
    “You’re not usually a pussy,” Ben said. “You’re usually more like your dad.”
    Solid. Steady as a rock. Never faltering, never taking a misstep.
    Well, except for the one that had killed him.
    “Get the hell off my plate,” Jack said.
    “Touchy,” Luke noted.
    “Needs a Midol,” Ben said.
    They played the rest of the game with a minimum of errors, but it was too late.
    They got their ass handed to them.
    Afterward, they hit the Love Shack, the local bar and grill. They were halfway through a pitcher of beer and sliders when Lucille walked by and snapped a picture of Jack.
    “Hey,” he said.
    Lucille might be meddlesome, but she also sometimes kept Jack’s mom company when she was in treatment and he was working. “What are you up to?”
    “Who, me?” She smiled and slid her dentures around some. “Nothing at all. I just needed a picture for—”
    “If you say Facebook…,” he warned.
    She smiled a little broader. “Ah, don’t get all alpha on me. I just wanted to put up a pic of you and Leah side by side. Unfortunately, Leah’s not nearly as accommodating as you.” She thumbed through her photo album on her phone and then showed him a picture.
    Leah, flipping off the camera.
    In spite of himself, Jack laughed. But he wasn’t laughing a half an hour later when he went to the bar for another pitcher for his table.
    Danica was there, and he gestured for another drink for her, but she shook her head, her pretty blond hair flying.
    “Hell no, I’m not having a drink with you,” she snapped with surprising venom.
    Huh. Not nearly as friendly as she’d been in the stands earlier at the game. Which meant… “You heard,” he said flatly.
    Her eyes were daggers. “That you’re nearly engaged? Yeah, I heard, and B-T-dub? You’re an asshole for humiliating me like this. Consider date number three off the table.” She stood up. “Your loss, by the way, because I give great date number three.” She started to walk away, but he caught her, a little surprised by her venom since things had been so casual between them. Still, he wanted to explain so there were no hurt feelings.
    “It’s not what you think, Danica,” he started. “I—”
    She tossed her drink in his face.
    It was a fruity white wine.
    Jack hated fruity white wine. He was still wiping it from his eyes when